The Enduring Mystery Of England's Stones

dew is collected faster longer we stood there, and my feet were pretty wet, but I briga.Hladno June air was pierced by the sounds of wind in the channel and a pair of didgeridoo players under dim spotlight of Midsummer month. Around us in the wet, ankle deep grass, stood an oblong shape Merry girls, the circle of stones is here, who knows-where-do-who knows-who. It might be occult gatherings, five of us to share attracted prehistoric ritual magic in one of the high days of the pagan calendar. In fact, my wife, our taxi driver, and I just happened to run into the two musicians, when we decided we wanted to see the stones at night. True, I was riveted to the damp spot. Is it the music, the rhythm of the wind and primal instrument? Or it was a great discovery, as well as some long-buried memory to surface? It was not, I was transfixed, like many others before and after me, the mystery of the stones

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England is full of Neolithic remains found in deliberate patterns, often circles, and left on the plains of the island from one end to another. They are often in a tranquil, secluded place, and rarely attract crowds of tourists. These residents, coupled with the ongoing mysterious atmosphere sets the stones, making them wonderful places to go when getting away from the noise of civilization is first and foremost in their plans. On my first visit to England in 1989, I had a vague knowledge of Stonehenge, and even less interest in it. But our visit began in Cornwall, where he lives, my wife informed me the novelist, the soul of mystery and romance. She came to do historical research for the novel is located in 1807, but soon became fascinated by the stories of much earlier.

Afterwards, we joined thousands of people who visited the Neolithic stones across western England, and still more fascinated than ever. Even better, from a tourist point of view, most of these sites are freely available. Many are on private property, as landlords can not change the historical sights, it is customary to ask permission from the landlord before trodding to examine their costs. Stonehenge remains one of the few places that need to pay a registration fee. It is also one of the few places that can not approach closely

The first question posed by visitors or armchair Indiana Joneses was "who built this structure", or "what for?" Archaeologists are various techniques available that will allow them to give us various clues. For example, the most famous prehistoric monument of them all, Stonehenge is located on the top of the chalk formation. Experts tell us that if you pull heavy objects, such as, say, twelve tons of stone, over the chalk, it will shatter. Based on their examination of chalk around the monument, and archaeologists tell us that all stones are hauled in from one direction, along the same path, which is called "Avenue". The stones are not local, but coming from 35 or more miles away. They had to carefully cut, shaped, and moved all the considerable effort, as suggested by the aesthetic sense and careful engineering. (I should also consider "strong back" the list goes on, but as we do not really know how to cut stones or transported ...)

Stonehenge was abandoned long before the Roman conquest of Britain, and lay unknown until 1130 AD found with every century, the hypothesis of its use and builders reflected more on the ideological bias, and questions of identity and arhitekata.Prožima popular explanation is considered that the circuit is built by the Druids, and is used for human sacrifice. Alas, this explanation is yet another case of excessive anachronism (as Robin Hood's brother Tuck, a Franciscan in England about 150 years before the founding of the Order), the Druids came thousands of years after Stonehenge was built. It does not, however, mean that they could have used the ruins long after their creators had disappeared. Other ideas suggest a colorful circle of the terminal building for a UFO, or grave indeed a great leader.

Smaller stones have different shapes. Some called quoits, is now believed to be burial sites. But others remain enigmatic, despite all attempts to them to reveal their secrets. One, Men-el-Tor in Cornwall is a unique, single hollowed-out, round stone known in Europe. In the vicinity of the vertical spiral. Legend has it that passes through the circle three times, you can be cured of various diseases. I can attest that it does not work for all diseases. My favorite explanation for this structure (and, my hypothesis) is that, back around 7333 BC, grog invented the wheel. He showed his brother-in-law, who replied: "What will you do with it?" Grog thinks a bit, shrugged his shoulders and threw a prototype of the trash, next door interrupted the invention, Axel (ah, that was already built two wheels first, how different history might be). More scientific thinkers suggest that these paired stones were used in fertility rights. In fact, nobody knows for sure.

If you like mystery, you can hardly do better than try to figure out the stones. I had no interest in them until we actually arrived in a circle in 1989.Sretan girls, where are my feet become the dew-soaked, the circle in which my wife and I spent a lot of time, mainly because it is so accessible. It is also surrounded by a very casual attitude of the villagers, who do not seem interested in the commercialization of the ruins. Our taxi driver, a native of Penzance, was filled with knowledge of these ancient relics. My favorite story is about a farmer who was about the First World War, tried to remove the stones from the field. He fastened a strong rope around the stone, hence his plow horse.

such as the stone began to move, the horse dropped dead of a heart attack. Fascinating as this sounds, it's, like many legends, unsubstantiated by the facts. On my first visit, I noticed a couple of stones outside the circle that are not listed in the guide. They are lined with stones inside the circle to a point almost exactly north-northeast. I have no idea what significance it has, but I used a compass to check the direction. Entering the circle, my compass turned slowly in all directions, the phenomenon observed by my wife and our guide. Outside the circle, it worked well. When we tried to better compass two years later, the results are different, the needle shows only a few degrees east of magnetic north. Until now, this is the most mysterious thing we stumbled on a rock site.

across the street and a short walk from the Virgin Merry Pipers standing. Legend has it that the girls danced at Piper Music on Saturday, for the indiscretion that struck the stone. Vengeful gods notwithstanding, one approach Pipers with great care, from time to time a bull is grazing in their field. While women make up a well-defined circle (the two outer blocks as "top-sight") tall, rectangular Pipers in a straight row, bandsmen eternally attention. As if some early Brit is engaged in the prehistoric version of urban planning ("Boy, 5000 years from now, tourists will eat this up!"), There is an ancient tomb just west of Maiden's Circle, and easily viewed from the center of the circle. Face to the east, and you'll see Pipers. Have you raised the same people? Are their functions related?

all of the most spectacular remains mysterious, I think, is Avebury, virtually a city in a big circle. There is a man-made ditch and mound around the city, within which are a few places that still have a large stone forming part circles. Most stones have long since broken down and used for the construction of buildings in the center, but the artificial ditches let you know how how advanced these people were and how hopeless we discover who they are. We made our visit to the moon-lit night (not planned, it just happened that way), and were impressed by the size of the remaining stones. Each egg-shaped monolith is about 15 feet wide, six feet deep and twelve feet high. Must have been a Herculean effort to be here and to organize them in a series of circles, one of which is surrounded by grad.Nekoliko remaining stones to stand as a billowing sail, forever the fate of the sea of time, the Iron Age Flying Dutch, who taunt us to understand them.

Astronomers and physicists are mostly displaced by archaeologists in the interpretation of the stones. Favored hypothesis argue that the structure of the observatory, which allowed accurate prediction of the season. At Stonehenge, for example, the sun lines with some very notable buildings on important days in the year, including the equinoxes and solstices. No doubt, such as the alignment is probably more than just coincidental. On the other hand, it seems strange that the culture will spend fifteen years of pulling and installation of stone only to provide a calendar (try to hang on your wall!). As if to confirm the hypothesis of a calendar, the stones were recently found to be incised with symbols axes and implements. Even after 800 years of observation, this massive structure secret until now has been shown, further enhancing its mystique.

Stonehenge was my latest test site. We took a double-decker from Salisbury in a circle, about 8 miles away. Our first glance it was a small cluster of gray on the sloping field, in the triangle of land wedged between two autoceste.Zatvoriti access to not one but two modern roads seemed to mock the rest of Britain's unexplained past. Friends tell me that he lost much of its power and mystique. It is not, but the fact that you can no longer access it farther away from Avebury and Pipers. Thus, even when the page is a bit different than watching a good photograph or a TV documentary. In my opinion, it is about two-thirds the size I expected.

Stonehenge started around 5,000 years, more than a thousand years before the start of the Pyramids. It was destroyed, weathered, and distant, but it remains the most developed capital lost his place.

In my opinion, Stonehenge is a solution, a philosopher, not a scientist: it is an eternal question mark, a monument to the fact that there are some things that a man would never znati.Posjet England would be incomplete without a visit to one of these questionnaires, which will provide you with a souvenir, insolvable mystery, which will last a lifetime.